Everything returns to the beginning
by Maui Girl 808
Summary: Will gets an apprenticed, but being Will, he just has to make accepting this child interesting.


Chapter 1: Choosing Day

Will stood completely still in the shadows of one of the many rooms of Castle Seacliff. He had been there since dawn, hiding in the shadows, waiting and watching for any change in activity.

So far there were none, and that was to be expected, after all, the real excitement would happen right...

Now.

* * *

"Would you stop shaking? Being nervous gets you no where!" A girl shouted, rapping another girl lightly on the head with her knuckles.

Emma Watertill was a force to be reckoned with. She was of short build, and she was a bit on the chubby side, but she was beautiful in her own way. She had sparkling green eyes and short curly black hair that framed her usually happy face.

Today however, the only expression on her face was annoyance.

The girl she had hit was rubbing her head in obvious pain.

"But if she weren't nervous we would have to assume that she was so sure of herself that she'd be egotistical, rub the fact in our faces, and when karma arrives and knocks her flat on her face _we _take the blame!"

That would be Logan Marriott. He was hoping to be apprenticed under Lord Jacob, the blacksmith of Seacliff, but despite the fact that he would no doubt make an excellent blacksmith he always analyzed a problem and thought it through thoroughly.

"Blah, blah, blah is all I hear. Look just leave her alone, it's not like anyone's going to pick her for an apprentice. I mean look at those little arms, and skinny legs. She's so small that if she and a sick, old, dying dog stood next to each other the dog would look more appealing."

Of course with the kind, the smart, and the small, must come the bully. Lesley Parkington, tall and strong was the biggest, and quite frankly the meanest, girl in the Ward. She claimed she could take on anyone from Horace Altman to Will Treaty and come out of the battle without a scratch.

She was always confident in her strength and it lead her to be a bit egotistical, she wanted to be accepted into battleschool, and no one defied her. Everyone was so confident she would be accepted that Lesley actually walked up to Sir Norris, the battle master of Seacliff Fief, and told him of her plan.

The battle master laughed before loudly exclaiming, "I don't accept girls into my school."

In five minutes Lesley had changed his mind, and battle master Norris was stuck with a black eye, a nearly broken jaw, and a bloody nose.

All in all, Lesley was very intimidating.

The girl she had insulted, the final ward child in their age group.

Mary Worthington. She was short, skinny, and couldn't lift anything heavier than fifty pounds; she had limp black hair that ran down her back, blue eyes that matched the sea, and a voice most women would die for, but she was wearing a trench in the floor with her constant pacing, and she was driving Emma insane with her constant shaking and muttering.

Mary couldn't help it!

She wasn't particularly good at anything, except playing hide and seek. She couldn't lift a hammer and bring it down on hot metal like Logan; she couldn't cook like Emma (she could burn _water_), and she wasn't rough and tumble like Lesley was.

She hadn't even slept a wink the previous night because she was too busy tossing and turning in her bed. Desperately going through a list of the possibilities of whose apprentice she could end up as, so far she had nothing.

Mary began to panic, she needed time to figure it out, but suddenly a woman burst through the door, gathered the ward children and led them away.

Mary gulped, it was time.

* * *

She and her fellow Ward mates were lined up from tallest to shortest.

Lesley stood in the front, tall and erect, ready for anything. Logan stood next to her, his arms placed firmly at his sides, Emma stood next to him, smiling broadly, her green eyes filled with confidence.

Then finally, at the very end of the line, stood Mary. She twisted her long, black locks between her fingers, a bad habit that Emma had tried to break her from.

The woman, who had led them here, Chastity, clapped her hands and each child turned sharply towards her. She glided towards the door, opened it and gestured inside the room.

"Please come in my lord."

Baron Ergell stepped into the room and smiled at the four children in front of him.

"Welcome! Chastity would you be so kind as to let in the craftmasters?"

Chastity bowed and opened the door again. In stepped the craftmasters. Battle master Norris was first in line, looking tall and proud, then there was Chef Rollo, and Jacob the blacksmith, of course there were other craftmasters, but in Mary's eyes they weren't important since she knew none of them were going to pick her.

Suddenly she became aware of another shape in the background. She peered closely into the shadows and saw something moving forward.

Soon the figure of Will Treaty emerged from the shadows.

The other craftmasters jumped in surprise as the Ranger seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

Will smirked his cloak never failed him.

"Ranger Treaty! Good to see you could make it."

"Of course my lord." He said shortly before turning his attention back to the four children in front of him.

"Right then! Chastity, if you may."

"Of course my lord. You there!" She pointed at Lesley, "State your name and where you want to be placed!"

Lesley stepped forward and said in a confident voice, "Lesley Parkington, Battleschool."

Will couldn't help but think of how much this girl reminded him of Horace, they had hated each other, mainly because Horace was a bully, but his time in battle school had changed that, and now they were best friends.

'_God may you shape this child the same way.' _He prayed.

"I accept." Norris said with his arms crossed over his chest.

Lesley shot him a cocky smirk before stepping back into line.

"Next!" Cried Chastity.

Logan thundered forward and glanced at Jacob with a gleam in his eyes. "The name's Logan Marriott Jacob the blacksmith."

"What?" Jacob answered back.

"I want to be your apprentice." He replied stubbornly.

"What if I don't want you to be my apprentice?"

"Then I'll take Lesley's hammer and slam some sense into you."

Jacob smirked, he liked this kid, he had spunk, and he looked like he could hold his own in the smithy.

"All right, I'll take him."

Ergell smirked; this was going easier than he thought.

"Next!"

Emma jumped forward and smiled broadly. "Emma Watertill, and I would like to be apprenticed to chef Rollo please!"

The large Chef examined her closely, and despite being her best friend, Mary paid little to no attention to her friend. She was too busy examining the ranger in front of her.

She had heard of Will Treaty, there wasn't a soul in Arulean that hadn't heard of him, and from the many tales of his bravery, she had assumed that he would be a man of high stature.

Mary had expected a man taller than a tree, but instead she saw that he was a full head shorter than Logan, who, despite his immense strength, wasn't the tallest boy in the neighborhood.

So wrapped up in her thoughts was she that she had missed Emma stepping back after Chef Rollo had accepted her as an apprentice.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GIRL! MOVE FORWARD!" Chastity ordered, gesturing at Mary.

Mary shook her head quickly, stood at attention, and nervously stepped forward.

A great chill ran through her body and she froze in place. She couldn't do this, no one would accept her as an apprentice, they would ship her off to a farm, and she would live as a farm girl for the rest of her-

"What can you do well?" A voice suddenly asked, breaking her train of though.

The voice had come out so suddenly that Mary had a hard time figuring out who said it. She looked at Emma, who had her eyes trained on the small Ranger in front of them.

Will stepped forward, his face hidden in the deep shadow of his cowl, and asked again.

"What are you good at Mary Worthington?"

Mary jumped back. How did he know her name?

Will, picking up the habit from Halt, rolled his eyes. "Speak up girl! I haven't got all day!"

"She's really good at hiding and finding things." Emma spoke up suddenly.

As soon as the words left her mouth she clamped a hand over her mouth and bowed deeply. "I'm sorry! Forgive me!"

Mary, despite her embarrassment, was thankful her friend had spoken up for her.

"Really? Well isn't that interesting? Anything else you can do Mary?"

"Little brat can sneak up on anything." Lesley growled.

Will's head snapped towards the tall girl and his cowl shifted just enough for Lesley to be able to see the glare he was giving her. Lesley never showed fear, but rangers were an exception, they were mysterious, and if the myths were true, they were dangerous. Especially this one, Will Treaty was one of the best Ranger's around, and just like his mentor, he wasn't above tanning a child's backside with a paddle.

"I'm sorry, is your name Mary? I wasn't aware of the fact, so _Mary _what can you do? Are you any good at hiding? Hmm? Answer me _Mary."_

"Ranger Treaty I think that's enough." Baron Ergell stated.

Will turned to the Baron, scoffed lightly, and then stepped back into line.

"Is it true?" Will asked, turning back to Mary.

She tensed and he made a gesture for her to calm down, "stop being so jumpy. I just want an answer."

Mary gulped before nodding seriously. Will smirked, glided over towards the Baron's side and asked if he had a pen and paper. The Baron handed the ranger what he asked for and Will quickly scribbled something down. Mary stared at him in confusion.

'_What is he doing?' _Each teen thought as the Ranger gave the pen back to the Baron.

"All right, aside from Mary who's the fastest one here?"

Everyone's eyes shifted towards Logan, who jumped in surprise.

"Why is everyone looking at me?"

"Because you're fast." Lesley said, annoyed that this was taking longer than it should have.

"Good. Hold this." He ordered, handing the piece of paper to Logan.

"We're gonna play a little game. It's called, keep the piece of paper away from Mary." He said pacing back and forth across the four children, "Logan's going to run as fast as he can and Mary's going to try and catch him. When she does, Logan has to give her the piece of paper. If Mary gets the paper before the sunsets, she'll be apprenticed, but if she doesn't. Then she's sent to the farms."

Mary shivered before turning to Will, "you can't be serious ranger Treaty!"

"If I wasn't why would I be saying it. Now come along we haven't got all day!" He looked up at the sun and in a calm voice he said, "When I say 'go' Logan you start-"

He didn't even finish his sentence before Logan bolted out of the room; Mary only had a second to blink before chasing after him, her tiny feet barely making a sound as they hit the floor.

* * *

Logan flew down the vast hallways of Castle Seacliff, his head snapping right and left, look for possible ways to lose the tiny girl at his heels. He didn't hear Mary's footsteps behind him, but he knew the girl too well, and he knew better than anyone that Mary could easily over take you if you didn't quickly evade her.

Without warning he quickly veered to the right, down a long dark hallway, he quickly turned right, then ducked into another hallway. Puffing and panting he ducked into a shadowy corner. He took a deep breath to calm himself and did his best to remain silent.

After a few moments he peaked out from his corner and saw Mary standing in front of him, an evil smirk on her face. She reached out a finger and jabbed his nose with her finger.

"Got you Logan." She then timidly held out her hand, "may I see the paper now please?"

Logan gave her a tired smile before handing her the piece of crumpled paper in his massive hand. Mary gently opened it and read the words that changed her life forever.

_Congratulations Mary, you are now my apprentice._


End file.
